The role of machismo and the hispanic family in the etiology and treatment of alcoholism in hispanic american males

Abstract

The literature on alcohol abuse and alcoholism among low-income Hispanics indicates that this community is severely devastated by alcoholism and its physical, mental and economic consequences. In particular, Hispanic men have markedly higher rates of alcoholism, arrests for drunken behavior, deaths due to cirrhosis of the liver, and deaths due to alcohol-related traffic accidents than do non-Latino American males. Widespread acceptance of the machismo ethos and its determining role in the structure, dynamics and value systems of the traditional Hispanic family encourage alcohol abuse by men. Further, both “successful” and “unsuccessful” machista behavior may generate dysphoric states for which the time-honored remedy of many cultures is alcohol. The positive ideals of machismo may be enlisted in the fight against the Hispanic male's alcoholism through the use of supportive rather than reconstructive therapies. The treatment of choice is family therapy which should be employed in conjunction with individual and group therapy and alcohol educational efforts.